What long term damage can excessive oil consumption do to my 2015 Subaru Forester?

10,900

Thank you very much TS - I am taking it in on Monday, 11/24 for an oil change. I will go armed with this info.

Please let us know the outcome. Subaru says 1 qt of oil burning per 1000 miles is normal which I think is unacceptable.

If you still have it after the warranty period use heavier oil.

There are 2 major class action lawsuits over this exact same problem. If the Subaru dealer/s can't or won't fix it, you have 2 options, sue or sell. I recommend no one buy any Subaru product until these problems are fixed.

Hopefully you are using Synthetic oil as recommended in the manual

Do you have a manual transmission? I heard that the majority of the oil burning issues with these cars are largely with them, why, I don't know.

Because with a CVT, the computer generally won't let the engine go much over 3000 rpm unless something is wrong. With a MT, you're sometimes dropping to a lower gear at high speed for more acceleration or to "brake" without using the actual brakes, both of which rev the engine more (between 3000 and 4000, depending on how aggressive you are with passing people). Higher revs = more heat = higher oil consumption.

It really depends on the definition of "high revs". The Subaru Outback / Forester 2.5 Four with the CVT transmission produces 170 foot pounds of torque and horsepower at 4,000 rpms and the engine is perfectly fine at this speed. Actually, the 2.5 Four is a much more spirited engine than you think and have greatly misconstrued it here. The computer is not going to hold it back from reving up higher like you stated and there's nothing wrong with that. It red lines at 5,500 rpms. Of course, there's no reason to keep this at 4,000 rpms unless you're climbing hills and the CVT will continously adjust for the correct engine speed as you drive. This is normal operation for this engine and the tolerances are built to withstand this kind of performance. Of course if you are driving slower and in city traffic, there's no reason to rev the engine above 3,000 rpms, but, occasionally speeding up to 4,000 rpms is not going to significantly burn more oil unless you have other internal issues, like low oil, worn rings and pistons. Just drive your car and enjoy it. I would definitely rather open up the engine now and then just putting along at slower speeds and risk carbon buildup mucking up internal parts. As for the oil consumption test, yes, take it to the dealer. Did you know that there's a list of 30 cars out there with oil burning issues, Subaru is just one of them. And, they're dealing with each problem on a case by case basis. Not all cars are affected, even Toyota Camry has been identified as a problem. See this article, http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2015/06/excessiv e-oil-consumption/index.htm

Oil that is too thin when hot causes oil burning. Switch to a 0w-30 full synthetic

Me too

I just bought a used forester 2015 had it three weeks and had to put four quarts in it yesterday when the oil light came on, I did not know they had this problem when I bought it .